And minutes here before the top of the hour, let's get to Linda Leeu, Bloomberg Consumer and Health reporter is with us to talk a little bit more about the reopening here in Hong Kong. Linda, so we're going to see a big jump in in bookings for air travel and people will be coming back at to Hong Kong. But let's talk a little bit about some of the
restrictions that remain. For instance, those people flying back don't have to have a PCR test before they board the flight to come back here, they will have to take a PCR test once once they get here, a COVID test uh, and then after that what happens. Yes, so removing the pre flight's PCR testing was a big perk for travelers since it's actually been getting harder and harder to get those tests and the rest of the world.
And now once you get into Hong Kong, you do a PCR test on arrival, and then for the next a week or so you will have to do an r A T test every day. And then for the first three days we will have a so called Amber code on the Hong Kong's UM contact tracing app called Leave Home safe, and then on this app your quote will come up as amber. That means you cannot go into restaurants and other high risk places such as hospitals and elderly care homes for three days. And then after
that your code will turn blue. That means you'll be able to have um more freedom to move around the city. Linda, this is you know, so many rules and regulations. We had similar in Singapore, but it was ditched a very long time ago. What is the likelihood that these restrictions do ease further in the coming months and what does that mean for the full reopening of Hong Kong. Yes, we've actually have UM have had a lot of voices
calling for a full removal of restrictions. The representatives from Hong Kong Investment funds, Associations, UM AM CHAM, they've all said that while you know, the relaxation announced on Friday is a welcome move, they would like to see are more easing, So that would mean getting rid of the testing as well as UM possibly removing the ambico so that means people can go into public places as soon as they arrive in the city. But we do have some pushback from the Health Secretary here in Hong Kong
uh Loch Hong Mao. He said in the TV program on Sunday that a full path to resume normality is going to be challenging because of the need to prevent new variants coming into the city. So one of the issues is if you come back here and you let's say you were positive, and you test positive at at the airport, where will you go? Then? Is there any choice involved? Will it be a government facility or a government backed hotel? And who covers the cost? Okay? Uh?
Those are those are some immediate questions that I'm not sure have been totally answered. Yeah. So, um, under the current rules, Um, there's already being a more flexibility flexibility for people who test positive. Previously, if you arrive into Hong Kong and you test positive, you're sent to a centralized isolation facility that's one of the quarantine hotels, or you get sent to the notorious Penny's Bay. But right now, actually, um, the government will allow you to isolate at the hotel
that you have booked. Of course, that's depending on what hotels are going to do, whether they will um, you know, upgrade their existing facilities to be able to accommodate that. And for Hong Kong residents, those who already have homes in the city, you will be able to isolate at home if that's your choosing. UM. Then of course, if you are living with families or other members that are high risk to the virus, you are able to opt
to isolate at the government facility of your choosing. We had a report last week showing Singapore has now overtaken Hong Kong to become Asia's top financial center, and we know there's an exodus of residence still too because of
these strict rules. How much do you think that kind of plays into authorities thinking when you have this competition in Hong Kong really wants to regain that mantral I think, uh, with the opinions that's been coming out from the Hong Kong business community, that would probably be the biggest concern for the government to take these steps to ease UM. You've already seen the banking sector saying that you know, if the quarantine restrictions don't ease UM, that's going to
put a damper on this flagship financial industry. Summer in November as well as the UM popular sporting events, the rugby sevens that's also going to happen in the same month. And of course, um, you've had the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association chief executive saying that you know, if Hong Kong doesn't basically take the steps to remove restrictions to be on par with other financial centers, it's going to
continue to lose attractiveness to talent. On the test that people take every day, the rat tests for the first week after they come in, how will that be monitored and how will the government be able to uh conclude that they are legitimate? So the government has I think set up mechanisms for people to upload rat tests and I think the plan is to um eventually make a compulsory UM. I think those are the plans and the works.
And again that's going to add to the burden of people who are traveling, and it's just one more thing to have to do every day, you know, when you wake up and try to go about your day, but you have to do these tests. Yep, it is a lot. Let's see though, in terms of how much optimism we are seeing on the reopening. Understand, Cathay Pacific's website came under a bit of a rush of flight searchers Friday. What other kind of moves are we seeing and can
the city's airports start to handle the influx? Yeah, I think UM the government has been making preparations for the increased UM number of travelers. They actually held some drills several weeks ago when these moves started to happen, basically testing the city's UM high speed UH high speed UM
subway to aligned to the airport. And we've also seen photos basically of infection workers kind of commemorating their laugh last shifts UM in their capacity as UM people that take care of all of these are on arrival testing and other requirements. So those workforce are being scaled down. So hopefully the government will have UM the mechanisms in place to facilitate a big rush of travelers. Alright, just
great to have you. Bryan's got a quick one. No, I think we're out of time, unfortunately, but it is a fascinating subject. And Linda thanks very much. Stooles. Yeah, Linden Limberg Consumer and Health Report out with us in Hong Kong